Continue reading “Raising our Girls – Supporting True Beauty”
Image is huge in our society, with a constant bombardment of what you should look like from all sides in media and social media. Thankfully, as a society we are starting to become more aware of how the images we see everyday affect us and especially influence our younger generation.
Recent studies show that the impact of early exposure of sexuality to a girl’s development is indeed very harmful. A report by the American Psychological Association task force (APA, 2007), found that girls who are exposed to sexual messages from popular culture are more likely to have depression, low self esteem and to suffer from eating disorders. Unfortunately, we are only currently seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the devastating effects of over sexualizing our young girls, especially with the advent of social media. Continue reading “The Effects of Image in Media – Not so Sexy for Young Women”
Really loving my body shape and how I feel versus how I look is a recent new awareness for me. Lately I’ve been feeling so great and really enjoying feeling how my body feels whenever I walk or move, so much so it often makes me smile to myself, even in public!
Going back 10 years, my focus was never on how I felt but always on how I looked. Sure I would eat when hungry, or sleep when tired. Actually as I write that, I realise I didn’t eat when hungry –
Continue reading “Body Shape – How I Feel versus How I Look”
Why does it feel like we have to attain beauty and we are not beautiful until it has been gained or purchased?
Why isn’t anyone telling us that we are already truly beautiful and amazing?
Why are we not supported to seek forms of expression that confirm our beauty?
I have started to observe a pattern of how we have been side tracked to express our beauty via the misrepresentations of outside influences. Magazines, music, pop stars, movie characters and story lines, movie stars and self-help programmes all influence and suggest how to dress, wear make-up, what to say, how to say it, our attitudes – even our postures and gestural movements. Continue reading “The Natural Yearning and Impulse to Express our Beauty”
This week, I became my own image consultant and stylist and cleaned out my wardrobe, completely re-defining myself and my worth as a woman in the process.
It all started a little while ago when I went for an esoteric healing ‘bodywork’ session and named a certain way I’d been living that wasn’t very supportive or self-loving. As a result, and in the days following this session I could feel just how I held myself and my body in a certain way, and dressing in order to mask, hide or stop feeling the distinct lack of worth I felt as a woman. Continue reading “Image Consultant & Stylist – Re-Defining Myself As A Woman”
The other day I was watching a Dutch TV program where four well-known Dutch female performers were singing their latest song. I noticed that I went into quite familiar reaction which always seems to pop up when I see certain people on television and especially with one of these women. It feels like I have this immediate irritation come up every time I see her.
This is what happened… Firstly, I mentioned to my partner that I had gotten irritated, which he said he already knew before he walked up the stairs because well, he’s known me for almost 8 years. Then my judgement kicked in, starting with how terrible the song was and followed by judging the women’s appearances. I noticed that one of them (the one I have this instantaneous irritation with) had gained quite a lot of weight, so I said something like this:
Continue reading “Beautiful Women: Appreciation Beyond Body Shapes And Looks”
The other day I was watching a Dutch TV program where four well-known Dutch female performers were singing their latest song. I noticed that I went into quite familiar reaction which always seems to pop up when I see certain people on television and especially with one of these women. It feels like I have this immediate irritation come up every time I see her.
This is what happened… Firstly, I mentioned to my partner that I had gotten irritated, which he said he already knew before he walked up the stairs because well, he’s known me for almost 8 years. Then my judgement kicked in, starting with how terrible the song was and followed by judging the women’s appearances. I noticed that one of them (the one I have this instantaneous irritation with) had gained quite a lot of weight, so I said something like this:
Continue reading “Beautiful Women: Appreciation Beyond Body Shapes And Looks”
Yesterday morning I heard the chuckle of the kookaburras and the playful steps of my little niece on our timber floor. It was Saturday morning and I had begun my day with a warm shower. I prepared myself for the day by making a delicious salmon breakfast, gently doing my hair and sitting at my duchess, applying loving attention along with my make-up. I enjoyed ironing my beautiful red dress to wear for the day. I felt lovely and my day felt in rhythm. Continue reading “Dressing for Men or Living My Own Rhythm?”
I recently saw a beautiful woman standing in front of a mirror.
She was just standing washing her hands.
When I saw her, my reaction was instantaneous.
Every time I spoke I could feel something.
But I did not stop! Continue reading “Mirror Image: Women Reflecting Beauty”
by Suzanne Anderssen, Brisbane
After reading the Women in Livingness Blog Getting Caught in an Outer Beauty by Sheri Gompelman, I realised I wanted to share my experiences on how I have come to realise that beauty is more than skin deep.
I too have been caught in thinking that being beautiful was about what I looked like, many times. Continue reading “True Beauty, Lost and Found”
